First American to be awarded the Legion of Merit. Capt Bernatitus donated her medal to the Simithsonian Institution in 1976.

RADM Randell Jabobs, Chief of Naval Personnel noted when he presented the award to then LTJG Bernatitus, "Your ecellent service in a time of stress and under such dangerous conditions in worthy of the distinction shown you in becoming the FIRST PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE TO BE SO DECORATED."

Among the last group to be evacuated from the Philippines just prior to the fall of Corregidor aboard the USS Spearfish(SS-90).

Capt Bernatitus was the only Navy Nurse to evade capture at Corregidor.

A monument in her honor is at the Exeter Borough Building in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania was unveiled on Memorial Day in 2007.